The participants shared their experiences and reflections regarding coping mechanisms they incorporate in the most difficult of times. These coping mechanisms are discussed in this section.
Self-care techniques
Most of the participants’ coping mechanisms pattern showed a high focus on self/care techniques such as sleeping well, exercising, staying active, following hobbies etc. They said it helps them to keep the good state of mind. One participant said, “You are away from your family and you are solely responsible for your mental health. Especially during the dark and harsh wintertime, exercising regularly helps me release unnecessary stress for me (N4)”. Most of the participants recommended that exercising is the best way to encounter stress in one’s life. Another participant stressed, “For me, mental wellbeing is being able to handle stress and emotions, trying to stay happy and positive, taking care of one’s health, eating and sleeping well, look out for help if necessary. (N1)”.
Most of the participants stressed the importance of having hobbies and taking active par-ticipation in leisure activities. They have been active in the outdoor and social activities to avoid unnecessary problems regarding mental wellbeing. One participant said, “Hang-ing out with friends, connect“Hang-ing with others/family and peer groups, spend“Hang-ing time in nature as Finnish nature is clean and beautiful. There are beautiful lakes, sea, beaches, forests, and parks here. Being out in nature is indeed a stressbuster for me (N1)” Another participant recited, “If I am too stressed out, I try to take a break from work or from my daily routine. It could be a few days or an hour or a few minutes, depending on my situ-ation. I go out into the woods or parks for a walk, or read books, or watch my favourite show on TV (N3)”.
Communication with friends, families and seek help
Most participants stressed upon the fact that they have a strong family bond back home and it is very important for them to talk with the family members frequently. All the participants experience the stress in their lives being an international student and recom-mended to talk to friends and family and seek for help if something goes wrong. One participant spoke, “While own family members are away, here being connected with Nep-alese people/ group may make you feel secure and comfortable. If possible, follow some hobbies, that may keep you busy and connected. Talk to people, parents (call/video call) whenever you feel low. Mostly my family is my support system. I discuss the matter with my husband. I call my mom for advice or just to share my feelings (N3)”.
As the participants are social service students, some of them were aware of the services available for mental health issues in Finland. Another participant added, “If you think you have problems related to mental health, there are medical experts to help you out. You can reach out to them, for example, the school nurse or counsellor can help. We can also contact the local health stations. There are social workers employed by the municipalities who can give advice and help us get access to medical support. In addition to these, there are different organizations working in the field of mental health. These organizations or-ganize different kinds of activities like a peer support group, story cafes, activities like sports and yoga (N1)”. All the participants strongly recommended international students to constantly be in touch with their family and friends and they stressed the importance of talking to people about their problems which would lessen the burden and stress.
Religion and Spirituality
Religion and spirituality practices were a common coping strategy for some of the partic-ipants. They said religion plays an important role in their lives and their belief on the god that everything will be fine has been the biggest way to feel hopeful in difficult situations.
One participant said, “My family and my religious values are my strength. These are the people or things I turn to when I am in trouble or problems. Whenever I have trouble, difficult situations and confusion, I perform religious rituals which include worshipping god and goddesses, which gives me peace of mind and positive vibes. (N2)”.
Some participants took part in various religious and cultural activities within the diaspora.
Another participant recited, “I actively take part in festive and religious programs orga-nized by the fellow Nepalese which helps release my stress. (N1)”. One participant high-lighted spirituality as one of the feasible coping strategies that the student used in life.
Some students recommended Nepalese students to pray and conduct daily worshipping routine. For international students, some of the participants recommended meditation and yoga to encounter stress and mental health issues. N4 added, “I practice meditation and yoga; it might be because it an important part of my family culture and religion up to some extent (N4)”. The results show that religion and spirituality positively correlated with coping with stress.
DISCUSSION
The main aim of this research study was to learn about the factors that affect the mental wellbeing of Nepalese students who are studying social services. Hence, our research questions covered the definition of mental wellbeing from the participants’ perspective, what affects their mental wellbeing and how do they cope with issues that affect their mental wellbeing. In this chapter, the results of the research are compared with the exist-ing literature and the aim of the research questions are discussed.
From the results of the interview, participants’ view on mental wellbeing, the factors that affect their mental wellbeing, a coping mechanism that they use to encounter difficult life situations and some recommendations for international students were acquired. Upon the question about the mental wellbeing from participants’ perspective, the answers from the participants are mostly similar that were related to coping with stress, thinking creatively and making use of brain for personal growth, maintaining healthy living, seeking for help if necessary, having good relationships with family and friends, focusing on studies, tak-ing care of one’s health, eattak-ing and sleeptak-ing well. However, one student who lived alone talked about depression and anxiety in relation to mental wellbeing. This is in line with the definition of WHO (2015), that mental wellbeing is psychological and entails feelings, emotions, and thoughts. Hence it can also be related to the theory by Diener, E., et al (2018) that SWB reflects an overall evaluation of a person’s life from his or her own perspective.
Upon the questions regarding what were the factors that affected participants’ mental wellbeing, one of the key findings was that the participants’ faced difficulty because of the language barrier and lack of communication skills. As O’Reilly et al. (2010) con-cluded that the language barrier is one of the main important issues that the students face which creates difficulty in the adaptation, the pattern of the answers showed the similarity with the theory. And also, the chapter concludes to the opinion of (Arthur, 2017; Heng, 2018) that the language barrier emerges as one of the most significant problems and it has negative consequences, as it is closely related to students’ academic performances and overall integration. The findings also showed that participants faced discrimination
mostly because of the language barrier. This proves the theory of Brown and Jones (2013) that international students encounter with the discrimination that is a threat to their emo-tional wellbeing. Similarly, weather and living far away from home have contributed to longing for home for the participants. Davey (2008) said that among many other factors, the climate is one of the main reasons that at first seems very strange, confusing, and incompatible to the international students However, some of them said the climate is something that they cannot change, and it is better to accept it and try to find proper ways to deal with it which shows the positive attitude of some participants towards things which they cannot change. The findings exhibited that living away from home has affected stu-dents’ lives in the host country. This corresponds to Davey’s (2008) theory that it can be stressful to leave home and settle in a new country and environment. The participants agreed that missing family back home and feeling worried about simple things are mainly because of the new culture and lifestyle.
Cultural differences posed a challenge as well as opportunities for the students. The re-sults showed that difference in the habits such as eating, and socialising can have adverse impact on the mental wellbeing. This happens when the habits, lifestyle, and customs in a new country conflicts with the cultural values in the foreign students or foreigner (Davey 2008, 37). However, the cultural differences not always have a negative impact because the results also orchestrated that the students were able to learn, improve, de-velop, and enhance their studies and lifestyles. The punctuality and modesty were the things that some of the students learned from the conflicting culture. This has been a learning experience for us, as the authors of this study as well.
The other theme that emerged was the financial problems that lead to harm mental the wellbeing of the participants, as Altinyelken (2019) said that the international students are exposed to the financial challenges that enhance additional stress and anxiety. All the participants said that the financial issue is one of the biggest factors that affect their men-tal wellbeing. According to O’Reilly et al. (2010), remark that immigration regulations limit international students’ opportunities due to which international students’ monetary problems are difficult to resolve. Similarly, another main theme manifested how learning pedagogy caused problems for the participants as Poyrazli and Grahame (2007) has re-ported that international students also experience problems relating to differences in study
technique, test-taking, or classroom instruction. Likewise, students admitted that they sometimes self-doubted their ability and mental capacity as a learner.
Another major finding was the fear of the future amongst the participants. There are mostly two main reasons for fear which are Language and uncertainty. It proves the point by O’Reilly et al. (2010) that if the student wants a successful career abroad, they must adapt to the environment fast where language proficiency plays a pivotal role. And, Abe
& Zanel (1990); Poyrazil and Lopez (2007) described that the international students face more adjustment problems than their domestic fellow students and at the same time, they do not have enough resources to deal with it, the pressure and fear of career enhancement have been felt immensely by the Nepalese students which have led them to take a toll on their mental wellbeing.
Upon the questions regarding how the participants cope with the difficult situation in their lives, taking care of their body was one of the major coping mechanisms that all the par-ticipants incorporated. This can be considered as reactive and preventive coping among many other coping strategies explained by Greenglass, Schwarzer, Jakubiec, Fiskenbaum, and Taubert (1999). The participants stressed the importance of having hobbies and in-volving in creative activities to encounter stress in life. This shows the preventive coping strategy and shows how the students are alert about the negative effects of the stress. It also talks about the avoidance coping strategy and how important it is to involve in leisure activities to avoid the unnecessary mental health issues. Likewise, participants willing-ness to deal with the problems presented the emotion-focused coping strategy. Seeking help is another important aspect of this coping strategy. Similarly, the findings illustrated the religious coping strategy that involved participants’ experiences in dealing with the problems with the belief and religious practices.
The interview results have shown that there are various factors that affect the mental wellbeing of these 5 Nepalese students. It has also illustrated the coping strategies that they use to encounter difficult situations in their lives. It is seen that all the participants have been able to lead their student life with positivity regardless of the difficulties that they have faced as an international student. This can help spread positive impression to other international students. This proves Grey (2002), Struthers et al. (2000) theory that various research and evidence from international students underpin the view that
successful coping strategies result into positive adaptation, reduction on psychological distress, a sense of mental wellbeing and life satisfaction and better academic perfor-mances.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In this chapter, a summary of the research process, findings and analysis of the research is briefly described. Our professional development from this research study and the rec-ommendations for future research are discussed.
In our research, we studied several related pieces of literature and research work. How-ever, there have been limited studies on the mental wellbeing of the Nepalese social ser-vice students, the factors affecting their mental wellbeing and the coping mechanism they employed during difficult life situations. Therefore, our research was designed to explore the mental wellbeing experiences of the students from their perspectives. During the re-search interviews, before moving on to actual rere-search questions, the participants were asked what mental wellbeing meant to them. And the participants answered that mental wellbeing for them is all about the ability to cope with stressful life situations, staying healthy, having a good relationship with the loved ones and opportunity for personal growth. Thereafter, the first research question dealt with the factors affecting the students’
wellbeing. It was revealed that the significant factors that affected their wellbeing are communication, weather, discrimination, finances, learning pedagogy in schools, home-sickness and culture shocks and fear of future. Subsequently, the second research question quested for techniques and strategies the students applied to cope with the different life events.
According to the participants, despite various challenges, difficulties, and stresses in life;
they were able to manage their life situations. The coping strategies the students applied are enough rest and exercise, participation in creative activities and following hobbies, communication with family, friends and seeking help, religion, and spirituality. Doing this research on mental wellbeing experiences of the Nepalese social service students, we came to know that the students we interviewed are resilient and persistent towards their future. Hence, they have been able to lead their everyday lives with hope, positivity and optimism in a foreign country which is a positive sign for international students who as-pire to become professionals in social service sectors in future. Yet no concrete conclu-sion can be drawn from this research study as only five Nepalese students were
interviewed, and the results might not necessarily address the whole Nepalese student’s community. But having said that, this research study can present a small picture of the issues of Nepalese students when it comes to their mental wellbeing and can help in knowing their issues concerning their studies and lives outside of schools.
The results from this a thesis can be used by professionals working in social service and health care sectors as a knowledge and information to provide better care and services to the students and the entire society in general. In addition to this, our work-life partner, student unions, and the universities itself could also use this knowledge by offering more support to the students, prepare more information and tips about studying and working in Finland. Similarly, we hope that our result will help the government, universities and our work-life partner understand how the mental wellbeing of the foreign students, especially those who come from developing countries is affected and what helps them to strengthen their mental wellbeing. For example, YLE (2020) writes, “While Finnish students get grants, housing allowance and government-backed loans, these so-called "third country"
students have to fund their living costs and shell out hefty tuition fees. Left with little choice, many students like Tran have travelled back to their home countries after losing summer jobs or opportunities early in the lockdown.’’ During this pandemic (COVID-19) situation considering the situation and the students’ mental wellbeing, the universities and the government could have brought some more flexible rules and policies for them.
But it was declared that there were no grounds for reducing the tuition fees. Therefore, it is recommended that all the concerned bodies like social service sectors, universities, and the government itself to study this type of research and we believe that it will help them to think of better plans and policies that support the mental wellbeing of international students.